Pokémon: Coming of Age
by MrPainCakesx
Summary: Ready to have the adventure of his life, Eleven year old Justin Barret takes his first steps with his faithful companion Karen the Fennekin on his path to become the Pokémon League Champion of Kalos. He'll face challenges that make him question what Pokémon are to him and what he would be willing to do for those he cares about.
1. prologue

=Prologue=

A long-standing tradition for many over the world is the chance to prove yourself in the world by becoming a Pokémon trainer starting at the age of Eleven. Children around the world look forward to their Eleventh birthday with hope for what being a trainer could mean for them. Some wish to become the best trainer they can possibly be, to catch every new Pokémon they see and cement themselves as the best trainer in the world. While others use becoming a trainer as a stepping stone and hoping to learn about them first hand to eventually become professors or maybe breeders.

Regardless of which path these young trainers wish to take they usually all start out the same. Eagerly awaiting the day they can go to a professor after turning Eleven and asking for their first Pokémon to help them out on their journey along with a Pokédex carrying their trainer's license. All trying to compete in the Pokémon League a regional event held every two years to see which trainer and their Pokémon teams are the best out of all the others. The goal is simple: Collect Eight Gym badges from each associated Gym each one offering unique challenges and scaling in difficulty across the region until those that remain are battle-hardened trainers showing off all they learned from their time forging their bonds with their teams. Followed by a knockout tournament versus all the trainers and their teams that qualified until the winners are decided.

Hundreds of trainers would tackle the Pokémon League, many coming for other regions after their events concluded, but only one would win and become the region Champion. Despite this, many young trainers take this chance to explore the world and make a name for themselves.

One such child is named Justin Barret. Only child to a single doctor living in Vaniville town.

Justin had spent all morning with his Father going over all he knew before he could head out and go meet up with the professor to receive his Pokédex and his Starter Pokémon.

"Come on Dad we've been studying for hours, I don't want to be late in getting my first Pokémon." Justin whined, looking at his Father with a look of exhaustion from studying since he woke up at 7am, it was now almost Noon.

"I know Justin, but I just want to be sure you are as prepared as you can be before you head out." His Father replied to him. "Besides you know full well that Professor Sycamore said he wasn't arriving in Aquacorde Town until two o' clock anyways."

"I just wanted to get ready so I don't fall behind, I don't want Jessie to take the Pokémon I wanted." Justin cried, Jessie Miller was the only other Eleven-year-old in Vaniville town. He and her never really got along and he knew she wanted the Pokémon he had his eyes on. "If she gets there first, she might take him."

"If she takes him what's the big deal? Last I checked Professor Sycamore said he was bringing three different starts. So just pick a different one." His Father replied, starting to get annoyed with what Justin was telling him. "Listen to me Justin, even if Jessie takes the Pokémon you wanted never treat the one you pick like you didn't want them. Pokémon are like people, they have feelings and you should never make them feel bad. It's not their fault if you wanted a different one, you treat them well and accept them. If you don't then they won't trust you and won't want to be with you anymore and they might even run away."

"I'm sorry Dad that's not what I meant. I'll be happy with whoever I get I just had a plan on what I wanted my team to be like." Justin apologized and looked down at his text book in sorrow.

"Its fine if you think you know what you want your team to be like, but never forget that your Pokémon will always do their best for you if you treat them right. You need to be prepared for not getting the Pokémon you wanted, but if you treat them well then they'll be just as good." Justin's Father replied while rubbing his son's hair and making it messy.

" **NYYAAA."** Cried the family Skitty as she hopped on the table and stared at Justin.

"Huh, what's wrong Nancy?" Justin said as he picked her up and held her in his arms.

" **NYAA NYAA."** Nancy continued to cry as she began to point at the clock. Which now said One Thirty pm.

"OH NO I'M GONNA BE LATE" Justin cried as he realized how much time he had spent talking to his Father and going over Pokémon biology, so he could treat them if they got hurt. He ran around the living room collecting the things he needed for his journey.

His Father had saved up and got him a heavy hiking backpack as well as canned meats, vegetables, bags of berries and a large water bottle for him and his Pokémon to cook and eat. As well as a simple sleeping bag, pots and pans, flint and steel, and a soap for when his clothes would eventually get dirty. Along with a few other things to help him out. He even got him a journal so he could record the things he saw and happened to him so he could look back after the end of his journey and see how things had changed.

"Justin be careful you don't want to trip while carrying that backpack!" His Father yelled out while Justin rushed to get everything he needed. "and don't forget this!" He called as he tossed Justin his hat to match his outfit. Justin was wearing brown Cargo pants with dark brown hiking boots and a dark brown vest over a green long sleeve shirt. He caught his brown fishing hat before running out the door and smiled at his Dad one last time.

"Bye Dad, I won't forget what you said about my Pokémon, I'll treat them well now matter who I get. I'll write when I get to Lumiose City."

Returning his smile, he watched as Justin ran out and closed the door behind him. It was going be a lot lonelier without his son. "All I have left here is you Nancy." He said as he bent down and pet his Skitty causing her to silently purr at him. "I just hope he stays safe."

Justin spent a lot longer than he wanted at home studying with his Father. He knew he would ask him to go over how to care for his Pokémon. Going over what made them happy or sad, how to feed them, what they liked to eat, that sort of thing. He knew who he wanted so he couldn't help but not pay as much attention when it came about talking about the other types Professor Sycamore was bringing with him.

He just had to run through Route 1 and get to Aquacorde Town to meet up with him. It was a straight shot to get there as Route 1 served as a straight path to the next town. After a few minutes of running Justin was exhausted. He wasn't used to traveling with a heavy backpack and he was so excited he broke off into a sprint as soon as he left the house. Something he was really regretting now.

He was almost into town as he felt his legs wanting to give out. He kept going against the pleas of his legs as he saw the water fountain at the center of town and standing next to it was Professor Sycamore along with someone he dreaded seeing with him as he had a feeling she took the Starter he wanted.

Jessie was the first to see him as he crossed the arches over the path from Route 1 leading into town. "Well well well, look who finally showed up. What did you sleep in? I started thinking you weren't even gonna show up since you already knew I'd be the Kalos Champion." Jessie snided, while watching him slowly make his way over to them as he looked like he was on the verge of collapse.

"Très bien!, you finally made it. I was worried that you "DID" sleep in my young friend." Professor Sycamore chuckled as he walked over to the clearly tired Justin and patted his back and motioned him to sit down next to the water fountain. The professor kindly waited for Justin to catch his breath before he continued.

While Justin caught his breath, he got a good look at the Professor and Jessie Miller. Professor Sycamore wore a stylish looking white lab coat over a blue long sleeve shirt and dark pants with comfy shoes. Jessie was the same age as him and was just a bit shorter than him. He stood around Four feet and Nine inches, she was just about two inches shorter than him. She wore short cut shorts over black tights and a pink and white horizontal stripped sweater. She wore a pink ribbon tying together her long black hair into a ponytail that came down to just above her waist. She like Justin had Blue eyes.

"Sorry Professor, I was studying Pokémon with my Dad and we lost track of the time. He wanted to make sure I was ready to take care of my Starter." Justin said as he felt his strength returning as he sat on the stone surrounding the fountain.

"Yea sure you were, I bet you can barely even feed yourself let alone feed your Starter." Jessie taunted as she glanced at him. "Just hurry up and pick your Pokémon already so we can fight already so I can show you how much better of a Trainer I am."

"Fine! I'll show you that I can take care of my Starter and we'll be the ones to win the Kalos League." Justin yelled at her surprising her and the Professor, but he just smiled as he saw how competitive Justin became at Jessie's taunts.

"Excellent! I love watching the passions of youth as two young rivals set off on their adventures to try to outshine the other." Professor Sycamore cried "Now then young Justin, Jessie already picked her Starter, so I am afraid that Froakie has already been picked if you wanted him."

Justin knew this would happen as soon as he saw Jessie had beat him here. They both heard Professor Sycamore tell them that he had a Froakie as a water Starter they both wanted it as their Starter. He was a bit upset but he still wanted to try to take on the Eight Gyms and become the Kalos Champion. While he really wanted the Froakie as his Starter, he was more than willing to pick someone else.

"Um, who else did you have left Professor?" Justin asked as he watched the professor take out two Pokéballs from a nearby suitcase.

"I still have the Fire Starter Fennekin as well as they Grass Starter Chespin." He said happily, while letting Justin look at the two Pokéballs.

"Okay, I wanted to get a Fire Pokémon eventually, so I might as well get one now." He said more to himself than to the Professor as he reached for the Pokéball that had a picture of a "Fennekin" taped to the ball. Wanting to meet his new Starter he tapped the release button on the side and tossed the ball onto the space near him by the waterfall.

In a flash of light, he saw his new friend. Fennekin was a Pokémon that stood on four legs and had short yellow hair as it got a bit longer as it got to the back of its rear legs. It had tufts of dark orange hair coming out of its ears as well as the tips of its tail. The muzzle was white in color and the fur got longer along its cheeks. With a small black pointy nose, it also had large orange eyes that looked around in excitement wondering who its new Trainer was.

"Um hello Fennekin, my name is Justin, Justin Barret. I'm going to be your Trainer." He said to the small Pokémon to get its attention getting it to look at him and getting excited.

" **FEN FENNEKIN "** it yipped as it ran at full speed towards Justin jumping onto him and knocking him backwards onto the floor. It quickly started madly licking at his face while yipping at him between several licks. Its tail wagging from side to side in its excitement.

"Hahahaha stop it that tickles Fennekin." Justin cried as he tried to get the small Fire Pokémon to calm down, so he could get up. After a bit of playing it calmed down enough for him to grab it and put it on the floor, so he could get up.

"Magnifique Justin, it looks like she likes you already." Professor Sycamore laughed as he helped Justin up onto his feet while the excited Fennekin kept yipping at him.

"She? It's a girl?" Justin asked as he got up fully and looked at the very excited Pokémon pawing at his leg.

"Yes, she is" Professor Sycamore laughed. As he looked at the Pokémon.

" **FEN FENN"** the small Fennekin yipped as if to say **"I am."**

"Well Justin you should give her a name, unless you want to just call her Fennekin, but if you want to form a strong bond with your Pokémon you should always give them a good name." He said as the Fennekin finally started to calm down again and looked at Justin expectantly.

"Hmm, well I didn't plan on getting a girl Pokémon, give me a second to think of a nice name for you." He said as he started to pet her head getting a soft coo from her. "Hmm what about Karen? Do you like that name?"

" **FEN KIN KIN"** the small Fennekin yipped excitedly at the suggestion of her new name.

"Good I think she likes it Justin." The Professor said happily while smacking Justin's back almost making him lose balance. "I trust that you two will make a good team and forge a strong bond between the two of you. They say the Starter always has the strongest bond with the Trainer."

"Well now that you finally picked your start then let's start our battle Justin, unless you are scared that is." Jessie piped up as Justin started to forget she was even there watching.

"I'm not scared, let's go Karen, we can't let Jessie talk down to us!" Justin yelled getting Karen to jump towards Jessie and baring her small white teeth at her.

"Then let's see what you two are made of!" Jessie yelled as she took out her Pokéball and threw it after backing up a bit away from them to give their Pokémon some space to fight. "Go Oliver!"

" **FROOO!"** Jessie's Froakie cried as it was called out. Before suddenly going stiff as it saw people starting to crowd around them not wanting to miss out on watching a Pokémon battle between two brand new trainers. **"Oooaakkiieee."** It silently cried as it started getting nervous around all the people near it.

Seeing this Jessie suddenly knelt next to Oliver and started giving him small words of encouragement that Justin couldn't hear with all the people near him talking about wanting to see a battle between two Starters. What ever they were Justin saw as Froakie gained new resolve and stared at him and Karen.

"Okay kids, get ready to start." Professor Sycamore yelled to signal their battle was about to start. "Ready? GO!"

[Pokémon X/Y - Vs Rival Music (HQ) 5-Minute version.]

"Froakie use Pound on that Fennekin!" Jessie cried being the first to react. "Let them get a taste of how strong you are."

" **FROOO!"** Oliver cried as he ran at Karen and right before it got to her he did a small hop and smacked into her with his front legs.

" **FEENNN"** Karen yelped as Oliver smacked her, she didn't look to hurt but she was definitely mad.

"Karen! Use Tail Whip and before he hits you again hit him first with Scratch!" Justin yelled, Karen nodded in understanding before running up to him and waving her tail in front of Oliver to get him to lower his guard. Right as he became distracted, she quickly hopped around to face him and gave him a nasty scratch on his face causing him to cry out in pain surprised at how much damage he took from her one attack.

" **FROOoOoooOOooo!"** Oliver cried as he hopped in place while covering his face with his sticky pads where Karen scratched him.

"I know it hurts Oliver, but we can't let them do that again! Use Growl before she hits you again!" Jessie yelled as she winced at the pain Oliver was in.

Suppressing his tears Oliver gave out the best growl he could while he was in pain. **"FROOOOO!"** he cried out, but it was enough to get Karen to back off a bit as it did manage to scare her a bit.

"Don't be scared Karen, he can't take another hit like that again! Use Scratch again!"

" **EEEKKINNN!"** She cried as she ran at Oliver again to hit him with another Scratch, but for some reason her paws didn't extend as much as they should have when they hit him seeming like more of a light slap.

"Now while she is in range hit her with Pound!" Jessie yelled again to Oliver.

" **OOAAKIIEE!"** Oliver yelled as he hit Karen full force in her face since she closed the distance on herself saving him the trouble causing her to yelp in pain and try to retreat.

"Quick before she can get away hit her with pound again!" Jessie ordered.

"Karen quick dodge it!" Justin cried but Karen didn't manage to react in time and just barely manage to look towards Oliver as he jumped into the air towards her and smacked her on the side of her head with his forearm.

" **Fenne kiinnn…"** she whined as she was knocked onto her back and was sprawled across the floor.

"Nooo Karen!" Justin yelled as he ran over to his defeated Starter bending down to check on her. "Karen are you okay say somethi…."

" **Fenn Fenne"** She yipped as she started licking his face when he went to check on her shaking her tail madly in her excitement.

"Haha Magnifique! She seems quite touched that you were worried about her after she lost" Professor Sycamore laughed. "Don't worry too much Justin, Pokémon usually know when to stop fighting in battles to avoid getting really injuries. Remember though eventually to try to make you happy or to avoid letting you down they might try to tuff it out, so make sure you can tell when they might be in real danger and call them back even if they really don't want to."

After the crowd saw that Oliver won and Karen wasn't really hurt, they started clapping and cheering, making Oliver go stiff again before cowering behind Jessie.

"You did your best Karen, I'm proud of you even if we lost." Justin said as he held the Fennekin close to his face and then started hugging her. "You are really cool, I'm glad I got you as my starter."

" **Fennekin!"** Karen yipped as she started licking his face again and wagging her tail.

"Alright Oliver we need to get going, say bye to Karen and Justin, we need to off and buy potion and then head out on Route 2."

" **froakieee"** Oliver said as it waved at them before getting recalled into Jessie's Pokéball.

"It was a good fight Justin, better than I expected but in the end we both knew I'd win." Jessie said with a grin as she walked over to him before extending out her hand for a handshake.

"It was close, but you only got lucky and you know it." He grinned back at her and shook her hand. "I'll see you in Santalune City for a rematch!"

"Hmph we'll see about that. Okay bye guys, I'll see you later Professor Sycamore, thank you so much for Oliver and my Pokédex."

"Bye Jessie!" He yelled and waved as she ran off towards a nearby Pokéshop and then off towards Route 2. "Oh, that reminds me I almost forgot." He said as he turned around and reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokédex for Justin. "Here you go. Go ahead and turn it on my boy." He said as he handed the Pokédex to him.

Justin took the small red device and flipped a switch on the side and pulled the side covers causing the Pokédex to come to life.

[THIS POKEDEX BELONGS TO TRAINER: JUSTIN BARRET FROM VANIVILLE TOWN.] It said. [THIS UNIT'S PURPOSE IS TO ASSIST IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF ENCOUNTERED POKEMON AND TO PROVIDE BASIC INFORMATION ON THEIR CARE. IN THE EVENT THAT THIS POKEDEX IS LOST OR STOLEN IT CAN NOT BE REPLACED. MY TRAINER'S ID NUMBER IS 58901-967-J2. PLEASE RETURN IF FOUND.]

With that he closed it and put it into one of his vest pockets.

"Thanks a lot Professor for giving me Karen and letting me use this Pokédex. I promise I'll keep them safe and learn as much as I can about Pokémon. Cmon Karen, lets put you back into the Pokéballs so we can get going."

" **FENNEKIN!"** Karen yipped happily before being beamed back into her ball and placed it on his belt.

"I know you and Jessie will make me proud my boy." Professor Sycamore said as he slacked Justin's back, again almost knocking him over, laughing as he did so. "Be sure to stay safe and take care. I'm heading back to Lumiose City to continue my research. That Pokédex has my number if you need to call me. Make sure you go and stock up on Pokéballs before you head out, never know what you might find out there." With that he turned to walk away and headed for Lumiose City.

Not wasting anytime, Justin ran towards the Pokéshop that Jessie was at before she left and bought three Pokéballs and two potions hoping he wouldn't need them.

With that he ran to the edge of town that lead to Route 2 and took a deep breath of fresh air and then took his first steps towards the start of his first adventure. Hopeful on what he would experience as he set out to become the Kalos Champion.


	2. Lessons Learned

=Lessons Learned=

The plan was simple, go through Route 2 and enter the Santalune Forest before dark and make camp. Justin had never been past Aquacorde Town before however as him and his father spent most of their time in their home town of Vaniville. His father would occasionally take him with him when he travelled to Aquacorde to visit sick or injured Pokémon that couldn't make the trip to receive his care. Even then he didn't visit the town that often, maybe a couple of times last year, but he wasn't sure how many.

He knew from doing research with his dad to know where he needed to go and how long each stop would take if he wanted to be good on time before the time limit to collect all eight gym badges came to a pass at the end of the second year. Route 2 was one of the shortest routes in Kalos, but this would still take him a few hours by the looks of it.

"Geez, I knew this was going to be a lot of walking, but I can barely see the forest at the other end." Justin silently mumbled to himself as he began to finally leave Aquacorde town. After a bit of walking he started to get bored. He'd yet to meet a single Trainer or any wild Pokémon but he still had yet to reach the parts of the route that had tall grass where they liked to hide, by the looks of it, it would be a while before he got to that part of the route.

Eventually Justin's boredom reached its peak and he decided he desperately needed someone to talk to, or at least talk at. Reaching for his belt he took Karen's ball and tossed it to release her, so he could have a little company.

" **FENNEKIN!"** Karen barked happily expecting to be released into a fight. After looking around excitedly for a bit she turned around to face Justin with a look of curiosity on her face. **"Ekin?"** she said in a tone of confusion.

"We aren't getting into a battle or anything girl, I just got really bored walking around by myself for so long." He told her, slightly embarrassed that he felt he was just wasting her time. "Um, if you want, I can just put you back in." Justin said now feeling more embarrassed and starting to reach for her ball to recall her.

Karen simply shook her head and started yipping happily at him **"Fen Fennekin."** She yipped and began to run around him and then stood by him waiting for him to lead them forward.

Glad that she seemed more than happy to keep him company while they walked along the path, he reached down at her and started gently petting her back causing her to close her eyes and coo softly. "Glad I have someone with me now, we are almost halfway through." Justin told her as he straightened up and began to walk forward. "It shouldn't take too much longer to reach the forest, I think."

They both walked together for a few minutes with Justin mainly telling her about how he lost track of time and almost missed Professor Sycamore and almost didn't get to meet her. After that he was about to start telling her about his father and what he did for a living before he saw the tall grass that covered parts of Route 2.

It was hard to trim this type of grass on the trails as it regrew quickly. It seemed like no one had gotten to it recently. It was starting to grow incredibly tall, almost as tall as him and so thick he couldn't see through it.

"I wonder if we'll see any wild Pokémon here." Justin said as he and Karen prepared to go through the tall grass.

Much to his disappointment he didn't see any wild Pokémon right off the bat. He did however see old potion bottles littering the area. It seemed like some Trainers had already made it through here recently and then just dumped the empty bottles on the ground and left.

The sight simply disgusted him. Justin's father had told him that a lot of the visits he usually paid to Aquacorde town were from local and wild Pokémon eating things Trainers left on the ground that smelled like food. Soda caps, chip bags, potion bottles, they all posed a threat to Pokémon since they smelled nice to some of them or they thought they were food. It was mostly small pieces of plastic that they accidently ate while trying to eat something else like a cap on a pile of berries.

He didn't want some poor Pokémon to get sick because someone else couldn't be bothered to put away their trash, but he also wanted to get into the forest before it got dark, so he could find a good spot to set up camp for the night. He knew it wasn't really much of a choice, he simply sighed to himself and placed his backpack on the ground and rummaged around in it looking for a trash bag.

Having finally found a larger one, he then preceded to start collecting as much trash as he could find. Karen simply looked at him in confusion since she thought they were in a hurry to get into the forest based on what Justin was telling her, but he decided to stop and start picking up bottles and bags.

" **Fennekin?"** She asked him with a curious look as he picked up a glass bottle.

"Hmmm?" Justin said as he looked back at her and saw her just watching him. "Oh, I bet you are wondering why I am doing this huh?" At that she simply nodded at him.

"Well, my dad is a Pokémon doctor and he said a lot of Pokémon get sick from eating trash that Trainers leave behind." He said as he continued to pick up cans and tinfoil. "Sometimes they get so sick that people from town call him if they see a Pokémon that looks really hurt from eating this stuff. I remember one time I went with him there was a Zigzagoon that needed special surgery on his stomach because it accidently ate plastic that was wrapped around these berries someone left behind." He continued as he remembered seeing the poor thing moaning in pain and looking sickly skinny from not being able to eat correctly since the plastic blocked its stomach.

At that Karen gave him a look of horror as he started to finish his story, having paused after picking up a disgustingly sticky ball of foil covered in slime. Seemed like something already tried eating it. He sighed in disgust as he put it in his trash bag that was almost halfway full already and then proceeded to wipe his hands on his pants.

"Dad took care of the poor Zigzagoon for several hours and said it was really hard since it stuck in it really deep. After that we stayed in town for several days giving it medicine to make sure it recovered because it looked really weak after the surgery." He paused as Karen walked up to him carrying a small plastic bottle nozzle in her mouth to place in the trash bag. At that he smiled and scratched her behind her ears. She wagged her tail happily at her reward and waited for him to continue his story.

"We were there for around a week and a half to check on it and made sure it was eating properly. This lady that was there ended up adopting it after it got better, I think she ended up moving to Lumiose City with her sister and took the Zigzagoon with her. That was last year, I wonder if they are doing okay." He commented as he finally finished picking up all the garbage he found as he made his way through the tall grass. His trash bag almost filled to the brim and weighing as if a Rhydon was sitting on it.

What he saw at the other end of the tall grass only made him angry.

He saw an empty trash can.

After stewing in his own anger and placing the trash bag in the can so that other people could use it, he saw a Trainer walking towards him from the Santalune Forest, which was still pretty far away. He looked a few years older than him and wore a blue sleeveless hoodie with a brown strip going down the middle and matching hiking pants. From what he could see of the stranger's arms he seemed physically fit and exercised regularly. He had brown hair cut short and as he got closer Justin could see he had brown eyes.

"Hey how's it going, you a Trainer too?" The older Trainer asked as he walked up to Justin with a friendly smile on his face.

"Yea I just started my journey and I'm heading to Santalune City with my starter Karen to try to get our first gym badge." Justin replied while motioning over to his fire Pokémon.

" **Fennekin!"** she yipped happily at the stranger when Justin introduced her.

"Wow a Fennekin, that's so cool. I haven't seen one in a longtime." He said as he bent down to get a better look at the small Fox Pokémon. "I'm Kyler by the way, can I pet her?" He asked, and Justin simply nodded giving him permission. He started stroking the hair on her back causing her to wag her tail excitedly, however he quickly gave a small frown that neither of them noticed. Once Kyler stood back up he looked at his hand to see tiny tuffs of loose fur that rubbed off giving a quick glace at the excitable Pokémon before looking back at Justin.

After wiping off the loose fur on his pants he offered his hand in a handshake to which Justin took and felt the teen's strong grip. When they got done shaking hands, he continued introducing himself. "I'm also doing the Pokémon League challenge with my partner Angel. I just need to stop by Aquacorde town and pick some stuff up before I double back to Santalune City for a chance at the gym badge."

"Wait you're coming from Santalune City and you need to go back after getting to Aquacorde?" He asked at what seemed like a long and needless trip.

"Yeeaaaa, I have to pick up a package for my old boss before I can run off and do my training with Angel. I'm a really fast runner so it shouldn't take me too long." He chuckled to himself. "Hey before we run off, why don't we do a quick battle? I haven't been able to go against any of the Trainers in the forest since they were all tired from battling here on the path."

"I think that sounds good, I haven't seen a Trainer at all since I started, and I haven't seen any wild Pokémon around either." Justin replied with Karen taking up an aggressive stance by his side showing she was ready for a fight.

"Cool then let's go, I've been itching for a fight. Also, you won't see many Pokémon for a while, I think. There were a lot of Trainers in the forest and I think they scared off a lot of the wild Pokémon." Kyler commented as he reached for his Pokéball.

Justin couldn't hide his disappointment at hearing that, he hoped he would at least see some wild Pokémon on the path or maybe in forest. Maybe by the time he got there they would come back. This battle would make him feel better at least, win or lose he thought.

Pokémon X/Y - Vs Rival Music (HQ) 5-minute version.

"Here we go, show them what we are made of Angel!" Kyler yelled as he tossed his Pokéball into the free space between them. As the ball landed with a flash of bright light to reveal a good sized Weedle that began to cower at the sight of the Fox Pokémon.

" **Weedle!"** it cried as it saw what it was up against.

"Don't get scared angel, this fight is more in our favor than you think girl." Kyler yelled at his frightened bug Pokémon. "The Fennekin doesn't know how to use its fire moves yet!"

At that Angel's courage grew now that she didn't need to fear the Fennekin's fire attacks. Justin and Karen's faces told Kyler that he was right about his theory.

"Wait how did you know that? Did someone tell you?" He yelled as Kyler's Weedle stood on its rearmost legs to appear larger than it already was.

At that Kyler just grinned. "I'll tell you how I knew once this battle is over, Angel use String Shot!"

" **Weedle!"** Angel cried as she started spraying thick strings on webbing at the Fennekin.

"Karen quick dodge it and use Scratch!" Justin yelled, a bit too late as he was still trying to figure out how Kyler could possibly know she couldn't use her fire moves yet. Karen dodged as soon as she heard the command, but the order came too slow and right as she tried to leap out of the way one of her hind legs was webbed. This slowed her down just enough for her to not be able to close the gap between her and Angel to use her attack.

"Karen get the webbing off and use scratch before you get slowed more." Justin yelled as Angel repositioned away from his Fox Pokémon to prepare another attack. **"Ekinn!"** Karen growled as she attempted to rip off the webbing with her teeth.

"Quick Angel use String Shot again while she's standing still." Kyler said as he motioned to the Fennekin that was focused on tearing off the webbing.

Justin realized his mistake too late when Kyler ordered another String Shot. He made Karen an easy target for more attacks instead of just dealing with her slowed speed, now Karen would pay for his careless mistake. This string Shot had no chance of missing as it completely covered his Starter and immobilized her.

"Now's your chance Angel, charge in for a Poison Sting!" Kyler yelled pointing at the siting duck that was Karen.

" **WEEEEDLLE!"** Angel cried as she charged Karen as fast as she could and then brought her head down and rammed into the Fox Pokémon full force with her poison stinger on the top of her head.

" **Fenne!"** Karen cried as she was jabbed by the poisoned stinger and felt the poison hit home and start affecting her.

"Karen!" Justin cried as he watched his starter yelp in pain and saw drops of poison dot her yellow fur. "Quick use Scratch before she can retreat!" He yelled, his voice wavering as he saw how much his mistake had cost Karen.

" **EKIN!"** Karen barked as she attempted to swipe at the retreating Weedle. However, the String Shot completely immobilized her and she couldn't raise her paws fast enough to attack. Her vision was beginning to cloud slightly as the poison continued to damage her body keeping her in constant pain. She knew she couldn't stay conscious much longer and the Weedle, Angel knew that too. Then the Weedle did something that deeply angered her. She smiled, Angel was toying with her now.

For a moment, Karen forgot about the pain wracking her body as she glared angerly at Angel. She already lost a fight today to Oliver, Jessie's Froakie. If she lost another battle and against a Weedle, a bug Pokémon, a type she knew she beats in a fight, she'd never forgive herself and more importantly, Justin might lose faith in her.

She stopped trying to escape her webbed prison and as she looked at her taunting foe, she suddenly felt a heat in the bottom of her stomach. She didn't feel any pain in the moment even as her vision got more restricted. Something deep inside her told her not to be scared, and to simply open her mouth. She did as her instincts told her and what happened surprised everyone but Kyler.

" **FENNEKIN!"** She cried as a small ball of fire shot out of her and flew screaming towards a wide-eyed Angel. Despite Kyler's shouts Angel was frozen in fear as she saw the attack fly right at her, the only thing she could do was close her eyes. The attack caused a pain she never wanted to feel again, but much to her surprise it didn't take her out of the fight. She opened her eyes at the sounds of shouting to see a sight she hadn't expected. Her opponent passed out in a heap of webbing, covered from head to toe.

After her attack against Angel, Karen was suddenly overcome by pain caused by the poison in her body. She completely forgot about her condition in her focus to draw out her inner fire to strike at her opponent. She was proud in the moment as she threw out her attack against Angel but was then overcome by despair as she saw how weak her attack was from never using it before now. Soon after she lost consciousness from the poison, her last thoughts were of how she let Justin down again.

Music stops here

Justin ran towards his Starter as quickly as his legs could carry him. "Karen, are you okay? Wake up!" He cried as he began prying the webbing off her fur. Kyler just walked up calmly next to him and handed him a small yellow spray bottle. "Its an antidote bottle, spray it on the side she was stung on and she'll be fine. Weedle poison isn't strong, she's not in any danger so don't worry." Kyler told him as Justin took the bottle and started spraying where she was stung.

"She fought pretty hard for you, I can tell she likes you a lot. You two just need some more time together to practice, bad call to try to pull of the webbing in the middle of a fight though, but I figure you know that now." Kyler said as he walked over to a spooked Angel to pick her up not seeing Justin nod sadly at Karen.

Justin looked at his Starter Karen and picked her up in his hands, noticing how warm her fur felt compared to when he first got her and felt an overwhelming sense of shame. His poor reactions to battle situations had caused Karen to lose two fights and he felt like she would start to hate him as a Trainer. He didn't even notice as his tears landed on Karen's fur and evaporated on contact.

Seeing Justin's look of utter defeat while holding his Pokémon, Kyler walked back over to him. "Hey Justin, don't feel too bad kid. Everyone loses battles occasionally, you know what the difference is between you and me is as Trainers?" Kyler asked while petting his bug Pokémon to get her to relax in his arms.

Justin simply shook his head.

"Experience." He simply stated.

"I can tell this is either your first or second battle ever since becoming a Trainer. You learn to deal with each defeat better as time goes by. They stop getting to you and you just learn how to avoid making mistakes." He continued as Karen began to wearily open her eyes to see Justin teary face, meeting his with an equally saddened expression.

"You should both be proud though, it's not easy to use an elemental attack for the first time." Kyler said causing them both to look up at him. "Karen gave Angel a good scare." He continued as he tickled the Weedle's belly getting a giggle from his bug Pokémon.

"About that, how did you know that Karen couldn't use fire moves before now?" Justin asked as he started to wipe away the dried tears on his face.

"Oh, that's easy, some Pokémon look or feel differently depending on their type. When I went to pet Karen, I noticed how her fur wasn't warmer than the air. Fire types that can use their abilities usually feel really warm, hot even. So, I knew instantly that she couldn't use her type advantage versus Angel so I wanted to give Angel a chance to practice against a fire type so she wouldn't be so scared of fire.

"Its impressive to use Ember attack for the first time in a fight. Usually Pokémon don't learn moves until a fight has ended and they had time to reflect or unless they are trained for them." He said as he placed Angel on his shoulder.

"Ember huh?" Justin said as he hugged his Fox Pokémon to which she wagged her tail in response before placing her on the ground. "You tried your best Karen, that was really cool." He said as he pet the fur on the side of her head. He now noticed how hot she felt compared to the surrounding air. The area around her ears being the hottest, Justin quickly pulled his hand away from that spot because he felt he might get burned by touching her ears.

" **Fennekin!"** She yipped happily as he continued to pet her before standing back up to face Kyler.

"Just make sure you two train when you get the chance, even if it is for a few minutes every once in a while." Kyler said as he offered his hand in a farewell handshake, to which Justin shook with a look of determination in his eyes. "I expect you two to be a whole lot stronger when we meet up again. Good luck at the Santalune City gym bud." Kyler said as he began to jog away waving his hand along with Angel at them both.

Justin and Karen both copied the gesture and wished them both well. They both learned a lot from their battle with them and they both felt themselves grow stronger as Trainer and Starter.

They still had a to walk for a while longer to get to the forest, but they were soon going to run out of time before it got dark. As they began to walk Justin noticed that Karen was obviously tried from the battles from today and had slowed her pace down, she needed to rest to recover her strength.

"Karen do you want to go back into your Pokéball so you can rest?" He asked her. "I'll be fine walking the rest of the way by myself." He told her to which she simply replied by shaking her head. Justin didn't want to push his Pokémon too hard so soon after they met, so he stopped and picked her up and held Karen in his arms. After he picked her up, he began a light jog to try to get to the forest faster, unaware of her whining at being carried.

Despite what Kyler told them both, she still felt bad after losing her second battle for Justin and now she felt useless as he carried her. She wanted to remain out of her ball to show Justin how strong she was, and she could tough out the walk to the forest, but he didn't even let her do that. She continued to feel that way the entire time Justin carried her to the forest.

By the time they made it to the Santalune Forest it was almost sunset. Justin quickly looked for a spot to set up when they crossed into the forest. "Karen help me find a clearing, so we can set up, its gonna get really dark soon and we need to start a fire." Justin said as he placed Karen on the floor and looked around for sticks to make a campfire.

" **Fennekin!"** She barked happily as she took off into the bushes. Shortly later she ran back to him and barked excitedly at him to get him to follow her and began tugging at his pants. Justin followed her for a short while before they came up to a small clearing surrounded by bushes on one side and thin trees on the other.

"Good job Karen." Justin said with a smile on his face as he reached down to pet her. "Now we just need to start a fire and then unpack what we need to make dinner." He said as he began putting the sticks he found in a small pile and looked around for more to keep the fire going throughout the night.

A few minutes later he had more than enough along with a few stones to make the fire pit, so the fire wouldn't spread out of control. "Okay, now to get my flint and steel to light the fire." Justin said as he began to rummage in his backpack looking for it.

" **EKIN!"** He heard Karen bark, turning around to see the campfire had been started by a really proud looking Karen.

"Good girl, I didn't want to ask you to do it since you are tired from today's battles but thanks for starting the fire." Justin said as he walked over to the happy Fennekin and began to scratch behind her ear getting a happy yip from her.

Now he needed to set up for a task he had been dreading since this morning. Making dinner. Despite going camping with his father several times over the years, Justin never learned how to cook well. Every time he tried, he burned something or added too much salt, or it came out too dry. Justin was the kind of person to burn water.

To make it worse now he needed to cook for the members of his team. He could deal with having to eat his own salty soups or dry stews, but making his Pokémon eat that too? The thought alone made Justin shudder.

Thankfully his father had bought a cooking book for him along with simple ingredients for him to cook for him and his team. All he needed to do was follow the instructions carefully and there wouldn't be any problems.

Justin pulled out a small pot and the thin metal rods that were used to make the hanger for the pot. Today he wanted to try to make Whiscash soup with potatoes and Oran berries. The instructions looked simple and it said it didn't take too long to really make, which was a good thing since the sun had set a bit ago.

Justin spent the next hour cooking Whiscash for him and Karen, meanwhile Karen spent most of her free time between chewing on sticks or watching him cook, eventually doing both at the same time. By the time the soup was done it looked pretty good, easily the best-looking dish he has ever made in his life. The smell was even better, only the food his father made on special occasions smelled better. Now for the final test, was it edible.

"Food is almost Karen, just need to make sure it tastes good." Justin said as he lifted the ladle to taste test the Whiscash soup.

If Justin could describe the soup using only one word, he would have used Salty. If he could use a few more, he would have said it was the saltiest soup he had ever tasted in his entire life. It took all his willpower to avoid violently spitting out the soup, coupled with the fact that Karen was watching him with an expectant smile. Against his better judgment he looked at Karen and swallowed the soup and with as straight of a face as he could muster, he told her it needed a bit more time.

Justin spent the next twenty minutes adding water and more potatoes to try to absorb the awful salty taste, he could have sworn he didn't even add more than a pinch of salt. At this point both he and Karen's stomachs were grumbling madly demanding food. Try as he did, the soup still tasted incredibly salty, but not to as much of an offensive degree as it was twenty minutes ago. Both he and Karen didn't want to wait anymore, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to taste that much better if he left it cooking longer, at least they were both so hungry that they would eat it despite the taste.

Justin couldn't help but feel nervous as he poured a bowl out for himself and then feel terrible as he poured one for his Starter. Poor Karen had no idea what was coming to her, he really wished he could at least cook well for her. He didn't want to give her more reasons to dislike him.

As he took the bowl for Karen and gave it to her, he didn't have time to warn her before she started devouring it, almost threatening to eat the bowl. For a second, he thought she didn't notice the taste, that was until her tail stopped wagging and she completely stopped eating. She just continued to stare at the ground and then slowly eat the rest of her soup while keeping her eyes closed trying not to show how she really felt about his cooking.

Justin knew she was just putting on a brave face because she was hungry and there wasn't anything better to eat other than some wild berries, but those wouldn't be enough for a Fennekin diet. Justin followed Karen's example and closed his eyes shut and slowly ate all the soup in his bowl, any faster and he risked throwing up.

After what felt like hours both he and Karen had finished their bowls. Justin noticed that there was enough for one more bowl and it almost made him vomit at the sight. He covered the pot with the lid and unrolled his sleeping bag.

"Karen its about time to sleep, lets put you back in your ball so you can rest." Justin said to his companion while reaching for her Pokéball on his belt. Karen was not happy at the suggestion and seemed quite nervous.

" **Fen fenne kin kin."** She said to him while shaking her head with a look of nervousness.

"Really wish I could understand you girl, but I guess you are telling me you don't want to go back into your ball or you don't like being in there." He said to himself guessing at what she was saying. "Well that's okay, I won't force you to go back in, just don't run off in the night okay?"

Karen nodded in understanding at Justin and then walked over to his sleeping bag and laid next to it and gnawed on a stick.

Justin placed his backpack next to his sleeping bag and pulled out the journal his Father gave him to write in so he could remember his adventures when he was done. He took off his boots and socks along with his belt carrying Karen's Pokéball and placed the belt inside of his hat and laid it next to his bedroll. He laid there for a bit before opening his journal.

Justin wasn't sure what to write or how to write it. He did eventually decide to write into it as if he was sending a letter to his father, after all this was all thanks to him for supporting him in his dream.

* Today was the first day of my journey to get all eight badges and take part in the Talos Pokémon League. I have you to thank for that dad. *

* Karen is everything I wanted in my first Pokémon as a Trainer. I feel really dumb that I was worried about Jessie taking the Froakie, she named him Oliver by the way. I ended up getting a Fennekin and I named her Karen. Karen is really strong and fast and brave. But I feel bad for her, we lost our first match to Jessie and then our second match to a Trainer named Kyler. *

* I made some really bad calls and she got hurt the second time, I don't want that to happen again, so tomorrow I want to make sure we do some training, so I can get a better understanding of what she can do so I make better calls to keep her safe. *

* I just hope that she doesn't get sick of me before then, she looked really upset after losing both battles today. I made things even worse by cooking a really bad Whiscash soup. It tasted really salty, but I don't even remember adding that much salt. *

* I have a lot to learn, and I hope that one day we get to read this journal together, so you can see how much I grew as both a Trainer and as a person. *

* I have you to thank for this dad. I miss you and I'll make sure to call when I get to Santalune City. *

*Love, Justin. *

With that he closed his journal and he noticed Karen sound asleep at his side, her fur tickling his arm. He gave a smile at his sleeping Starter and put his journal away in his backpack. Then ever so slowly, he pulled her closer to him, so he could hug her, careful not to wake her up.

"Goodnight Karen, I'll make sure to get better as a Trainer, so I can take better care of you." He whispered to her.

With that Justin closed his eyes and went to sleep, hoping that he would do better as a Trainer the next day for his and Karen's sake.


	3. Training with a Stranger

=Training with a Stranger=

Today marked the first day for Justin on his Pokémon journey. The first real day where for the next two years he would try to complete in the Kalos Championship League without his father to be there for him to help him on his journey. From today forward Justin's goal was to complete his journey without having to rely on his father to come to his aid if things got too hard. Part of the spirit of the challenge for many young aspiring Trainers was to test personal will and determination to see if they had what it took to become the next regional champion.

Try as he might, Justin wasn't able to get a good night's sleep. His thoughts stopping him from getting the rest he needed. He kept thinking about what his journey would entail, and what he would need to do to compete in the Kalos League. That and he had a stomach ache from the salty food he made for both him and Karen.

Slowly, Justin opened his eyes and was greeted by the warm light of the spring sun shining through the treetops of the Santalune Forest. It was still early in the morning, but Justin had the day planned out.

First order of business was breakfast. He hoped it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as dinner was last night, but he didn't want to kid himself.

Next, after they packed, he wanted to attempt to train Karen. He knew she was strong and would become powerful as she became older, but he needed to work on himself in becoming more confident in his calls and decision making.

The training was for more himself than for her.

It would still take at least the whole day to exit the forest if they walked all the entire time at a brisk pace, but there was no need for that. Training was more important, and he figured he would just embarrass himself if he made it all the way to the Santalune City gym and didn't plan out a halfway decent strategy with Karen and lost instantly.

He was about to sit up as he felt a weight shift on his lap. Karen was still curled up on him sleeping peacefully. Carefully Justin sat up and gently shook her awake and while rubbing her back and getting a soft coo from her. After a bit Karen finally started to wake up and began to yawn before looking up at Justin before sitting up and wagging her tail with a sleepy smile on her face.

"Good morning Karen." Justin yawned softly as he pet his Starter causing her to wag her tail more excitedly and yip playfully at him. "We need to start getting ready to move deeper into the woods to head to Santalune City, but before that I need to cook breakfast."

At that last part, Karen couldn't help it as she stopped wagging her tail and looked at Justin with a horrified expression. The look she gave him stung, but he knew it wasn't unfounded.

"Sorry girl, I know last night's soup wasn't very good, but the more I cook, the better I'll get. I promise it won't be as bad as that Whiscash soup." Justin said with embarrassment evident in his voice. "I haven't had enough practice, but I'll try as hard as I can to make it taste better."

At that Karen gave a small nod and resumed her tail wagging before running off to chew on the stick she found yesterday.

Justin wasted no time as he began to put on his socks and boots, hat, and belt. Making sure that he still had Karen's Pokéball with him. Karen's was the only Pokéball on his belt, since the ones he had recently bought were still in his pack. Not wanting to lose it, he took a marker from his pack and wrote a small "K" on her Pokéball. For a reason he still didn't understand, Karen really didn't want to go back into her ball, but he also didn't want to press the issue with her, not that he could even understand her if she answered him anyways.

As Justin began to roll up his sleeping bag and gather rest of his things, he wondered what he would try to cook for him and Karen this morning. Maybe the Whiscash soup was too hard for him to make as his first dish out on his adventure. Maybe an Oran Berry soup would be easier he thought. He did have a pack of fresh berries that his father bought for him the day before.

With Karen's help, he began to gather sticks to make a small fire to cook the berries. According to his cook book, Oran Berry soup needed a small amount of grated carrots to help balance out the sweetness of the Oran Berries. Along with fresh water and a bit of time, this recipe was a lot simpler than last night's soup.

He kicked himself mentally for not starting out with something so simple.

Justin spent the next thirty-five minutes preparing the Oran Berry soup and cooking it. The instructions said to squish the berries in a pot and wring most of the water out from them to prevent the soup from being to watery and adding in a grated carrot after half the berries were prepared and then add the other half after. Then add a few cups of water based on preference to determine the consistency of the soup.

Justin couldn't help but feel pride at the soup he was making. It didn't look amazing since it only used two ingredients and they were roughly prepared, it looked like some sort of chunky goop. However, as he learned from last night's dinner, just because it looked good didn't mean it tasted good.

He even tasted it before getting his hopes up. It tasted just like Oran Berries, but not as sweet and with a hint of carrots. It was easily the best food he had ever made. Even if it was something as simple as a few berries, carrots and some water, he couldn't help but feel pride.

"Karen come here, breakfast is ready." Justin called out for the Fennekin as she was busy playfully hoping around in a nearby bush and chewing on a branch with her tail wagging in the air.

At the mention of food, she ran excitedly towards Justin before slowing down as she neared him, remembering the food he fed her last night. She eyed the pot cautiously before looking up at Justin who was busy filling up a bowl for her. She couldn't help but feel a mounting dread, but the promise of food was too much to pass up.

Besides, Justin promised he would get better at cooking so the least she could do for him was support him she thought. Even if she couldn't get any sleep from the stomach ache the salty soup gave her. She had to run off in the middle of the night twice to avoid getting sick on him.

As she thought about her own lack of sleep Justin placed a bowl at her feet, its contents looking something like what she threw up last night. The sight of it almost made her gag, but she hid it as best as she could so Justin wouldn't notice. Despite the appearance, it didn't smell bad at all. It smelled sweet and she loved sweet foods.

"Don't be scared Karen." Justin said to her breaking her from her thoughts. "I tasted it and it's really good, it just looks weird." He said as he ate a spoonful and dug in for more.

Justin didn't act like it tasted bad and she trusted him. So, she closed her eyes and ate a small bite and braced herself. She was relived at the revelation, it tasted just how it smelled. Sweet like Oran Berries with a mild taste of carrots. The soup its self was chucky, but she didn't mind, she just wanted food that didn't make her feel sick.

Before she knew it, she had finished the entire bowl. She didn't think about pacing herself as she ate her bowl, excited at eating food that was sweet. That and she felt like she was starving from throwing up the Whiscash soup late into the night.

" **Fenne Fennekin!"** Karen barked happily at Justin while wagging her tail and pawing at his brown pants begging for more soup.

"What's the matter girl, want more?" Justin asked the excited Fox Pokémon, having a feeling at what she wanted. He was glad that she liked the soup, simple as it was, he couldn't mess it up unless he really tried.

However, he made a different over sight. While this time the food tasted a lot better and they could both go for more bowls, he didn't make enough.

In case the soup was a failure like the one before, Justin decided to make only enough for two bowls, so he didn't waste as much food as he did from last night. The pot was able to hold much more soup than he thought and there was a lot more than one bowl of Whiscash soup. The pot had enough for another three bowls of the foul salty soup.

Now that they both wanted more, there was nothing left in the pot.

"Sorry Karen, but I didn't know if it would come out well, so I only made enough for one bowl each of us." Justin admitted to his Starter and was met with her sad eyes and a soft whine. "I'm sorry Karen, but if you want, I can make us more later. Besides we have a lot to walk today so maybe not eating so much is for the better."

At that Karen nodded in agreement and ran off towards the bushes happily and pulled out a stick to chew on.

Justin was happy that Karen was understanding, more so that the soup tasted great. He knew however, that they couldn't live off Oran Berry soup for the rest of the journey and Karen would need meat in her diet at some point to stay healthy. He'd eventually have to get better at cooking more dishes and the ones that required meat where a lot harder to cook it seemed.

For now, they would be fine, but he had to try to cross that road again to keep them both healthy. At the moment the more pressing issue was gathering the rest of his supplies and leaving camp. It was still early in the day, so they had several hours left for walking, and the training he wanted to do.

It had been a few hours since Justin and Karen left their old camp and followed the path deeper into the Santalune Forest. Eventually they reached a large clearing with small bushes off to the sides. The tree tops letting in plenty of sunlight making this a great spot for the training he wanted to do today with Karen.

"Perfect." Justin said mainly to himself, gaining a curious look from his Starter. "Karen, I want to try doing some battle practice with you today before we get to Santalune City. I think we'll both need the practice before we get to the gym, so we don't have regrets when we get there."

" **Fennekin?"** Karen seemed to ask while looking at Justin and then the clearing. She then walked towards the clearing and turned around to face him before sitting down and looking at him expectantly.

"We need to practice your moves, and I need to practice making calls more quickly, so we don't get slowed down." Justin said as he moved towards a dry white log with black stripes laying by some nearby bushes. "I think we should focus on your speed and the power on your attacks." He continued as he dragged the log towards her.

"You're pretty small, so we'll use that towards our advantage." Justin grunted as he dug a small hole with his hands and then stood the log in it to get it to stand without it being able to fall over.

Karen wondered what Justin had in mind. He was right, she was small and maybe if she was fast enough, she could hit he opponent before they could act. If she became strong enough then maybe the one hit before they could act could quickly end a battle with her as the victor. It made sense to her, so she wanted to train. She might finally be able to win a battle for Justin she thought.

She didn't know how they would train her speed though, she could just run around but that didn't seem like it would help her as much. She got her answer as Justin pulled out a red frisbee. She couldn't help but get excited at the thought of her training as her tail began to wag.

"Okay so first we'll work on your power." Justin said as he placed the frisbee on the ground next to his backpack and began walking towards her with a bottle of water. "I know you can use scratch, but I'd be happier if you stayed away from the Pokémon you are battling so you don't get hurt."

Justin then began splashing water on the log with his water bottle on a spot facing her. "So, I want you to focus on using Ember and any attack you learn that doesn't force you to get close, sound good?" Justin asked as he emptied the rest of the bottle on the log.

" **Fennekin!"** Karen barked in response as she took up a battle stance and stared at the log with determination.

"Okay, so its simple, just aim at the wet spot on the log and hit it with your strongest Ember." Justin told her as he walked towards the Fox Pokémon and stood next to her and faced the log.

"Ready? Karen use Ember attack!" He shouted as he pointed to their target.

" **EKIN!"** Karen barked as she focused on the fire inside her and propelled it out her mouth and towards her target. She watched helplessly as it flew harmlessly past the log and fizzled out a few feet out behind her target. She couldn't believe how she could miss a log. A LOG. It wasn't even moving; how could she miss?

"Good try Karen, don't worry this is what this training is for." Justin said to her as he looked straight ahead, not taking his eyes off the striped log. He wanted to spare her the embarrassment of missing her target and he didn't want to make her feel bad.

"Again, Ember attack!" He shouted as he looked straight ahead pointing at the log.

If Justin was angry or disappointed in her he didn't show it. Karen felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment as she attempted to gather the fire within her for another attack. She was determined to do the best she could for him, no matter how long it took or how tired it would make her. She would make him proud of her.

" **Ekin!"** Karen barked again as she felt a fireball fly out of her mouth. This one was easily bigger than the last one, but they were still pretty small. She watched with anticipation as it flew towards her target and then smacked into the log with a sizzle.

That was it, it made the log sizzle a little, nothing else.

Karen felt her cheeks becoming warm again as she turned to look up to Justin. Even that Ember focused with all her might did nothing but fizzle before the striped log, as if taunting her.

He however was flashing a large grin at her with his white teeth.

"Great Job Karen!" Justin shouted startling his Starter with his outburst. "This is a good start, now we both have something to work with. I know it didn't look like much, but that Ember did look strong. I made sure to wet the log, so it didn't take too much damage from your attacks, but if it was dry it might have caught fire." He continued while still giving her a huge smile.

At hearing Justin's words of praise, she felt relief. She was so worried that her next attack was the breaking point for him. That he would deeply regret taking her as his Starter or worse.

Her relief turned to excitement as she yipped at him excitedly with her tail wagging madly before facing the log again to continue her training. No matter how long it would take, she was determined to light that log on fire now matter how wet it was.

Justin was thoroughly impressed with Karen's Ember attack. The log he picked looked like it came from a chestnut tree. He learned about them when he went camping last year with his father. That type of tree, even when dried out were difficult to light on fire which made them a terrible choice for using as firewood. Something about how hard the wood was and a chemical that reacted poorly to fire, he couldn't remember what it was called but it was perfect for training Karen's fire attacks. She even managed to singe the log despite it also being wet by his water bottle.

Justin couldn't be prouder of his Starter, she seemed so strong. Now he needed to work on being a better trainer for her.

"Again Karen, use Ember!" Justin shouted to which Karen took up her stance again and sent another tiny fireball at the log with similar results.

Justin and Karen spent the next hour practicing her Ember attack on the Chestnut tree log. The log had been scorched from Karen's relentless attacks making it almost completely black. At one point it even briefly caught fire before quickly going out and being replaced by a dark smoke that smelled like burnt plastic.

They stopped occasionally, however, between attacks on the log as every few minutes they would both hear a rustling in some nearby bushes. When Justin would go to check what the noise was. He'd expected to find a wild Pokémon like a Caterpie or maybe a Fletchling, both being common Pokémon in the Santalune Forest, but he'd simply see an empty bush or some wild flowers.

This continued for the entire hour that he was helping Karen practice her attacks on the Log. He couldn't help but feel that something was watching him. Justin figured that whatever it was, if it was dangerous, it might have done something by now. He simply ignored the noises after a while and focused on Karen's Ember.

Karen's Ember by this point had improved drastically. Not only was it larger and brighter in intensity, but it looked like it packed a strong punch. Her control of her Ember had drastically improved over such a short time.

He couldn't help but marvel at how strong she was and if they kept up the practice daily, he hoped that next time He and Jessie battled Karen wouldn't even break a sweat against Oliver. For now, he was simply grateful to take what little time he had between walking and camping to practice with her.

"Okay, I think we've had enough time to rest Karen." Justin exhaled as he stood up from the base of a nearby tree he was leaning on. "I don't think we should spend more time on your Ember, I don't want you to get too tired."

" **Ekin Fenn."** Karen yipped as she stood up and began walking towards him with her tail wagging cheerfully away from the stick she had been mauling since they began their short break. Quickly becoming excited as she saw him reaching for the red frisbee he had pulled out of his backpack an hour ago.

" **Fennekin Kin!"** she began to bark as she ran in circles around Justin's legs before pawing at his pants and panting wildly with an excited expression.

"Woah girl calm down, its not going anywhere." Justin said as he Karen began to calm down and stare at him expectantly, her tail still wagging madly as she sat down. "Now this is just a simple exercise until I can think of something better. I'll just toss this frisbee as hard as I can across the clearing, but you can't chase after it until I say so, got it?"

" **Ekin?"** She seemed to ask him with a small yip.

"Hopefully this will help you get faster since you won't have a lot of time to catch it before it touches the ground. It should also help me with making calls quickly and be able to adjust to your speed, so we can both react faster in battles…well that's the plan anyway." Justin basically whispered the last part to himself.

"Okay, get ready Karen, and remember, don't chase after it until I tell you to." Justin reminded Karen before taking up a stance to throw the frisbee as hard as he could.

He threw the red toy as hard as he could towards the clearing where they were practicing her Ember on the Chestnut log. The frisbee quickly reached the peak of its arc before slowly beginning to descent.

"NOW KAREN CATCH IT!" Justin yelled as the frisbee was about to halfway down to the ground.

The Fox Pokémon took off sprinting as soon as Justin gave her the command. Even then he threw it pretty far away from them. It was easily at the other side of the clearing. Karen not wanting to disappoint Justin pushed her tiny legs as hard as she could, feeling the burn of her muscles from the strain of the exercise.

To make things worse, the pain in her ribs began to ache her body again. She wouldn't let it stop her now though, even as it started to make her wheeze.

The frisbee was moments away from landing right as Karen sprinted up to it and managed to catch it with her mouth mere inches from the ground.

Karen couldn't help but jump for joy as she turned around and ran excitedly towards her trainer. She got a good look at the distance the frisbee flew as she ran back. There was no way she should have been able to catch it before it hit the dirt, but she couldn't help but feel pride at her achievement.

If she could keep this up, then maybe she wouldn't have to worry she thought as she hurried back to her Trainer.

Justin couldn't help but let his surprise and happiness show on his face as Karen ran back to him with an equally excited face. She dropped the frisbee at his feet and began yipping happily to him while pawing at his pants. He rewarded her by petting her vigorously on the back of her head and behind her ears but careful not to get too close to get burned by them.

"Good job Karen!" He congratulated her while continuing to pet her head and then her back. Justin was worried that he had tossed the frisbee too far on the first go, but his worry quickly disappeared as he watched his starter take off at a speed he didn't think possible for her tiny form.

Karen continued to yip and hop around as Justin pet her, and then finally calmed down as he stood back up and got ready to throw it again.

"I'm about to throw it just as far, so get ready Karen!" Justin shouted as he took up his stance.

"Ready?" Justin asked as he began going through the motions but stopped as he heard the rustling from the bushes again. He couldn't help but stop to turn around despite not finding anything every time he went to go check.

This time however he saw a small girl walking towards him from where he heard the noise coming from.

The girl looked strikingly like him, creepily so. She wore the same clothes along with the same colors on them. Her face while looking somewhat like his, was more feminine with the same blue eyes as his. She had short black hair that came down a bit past her ears and then curved towards her face. Her skin was a fair shade just like his as well, everything about her so like him, yet as a girl.

"Uh hello?" Justin asked as Karen turned to look at her.

The girl simply walked forward towards him without responding causing Karen to give off a light growl, before being quickly shushed by Justin.

Karen felt embarrassed in reacting this way to a stranger that hadn't done anything, but something about the strange girl creeped her out. That was without her looking exactly like a female version of Justin as well. She just couldn't help herself as she got between Justin and the stranger and bared her tiny canines.

"Karen stop being so rude!" Justin shouted at her causing the Fennekin to fold her ears in shame and walk towards him and hide between his legs.

"I'm really sorry I don't know what's gotten into her. My name is Justin, who are you?" He asked while extending his hand towards her for a handshake.

The girl quietly looked at his hand and then stared into his eyes without saying anything while continuing to walk to him. She was now right next to him, her face mere inches from his, all the while not saying a word.

"Uhh… I uhh… was just helping…. my Fennekin… practice for…. battles…" Justin stammered to the stranger as he was not used to a girl being so close to him, especially one that hadn't said a single word so far.

The girl continued to stare into his eyes without saying a word, her face expressionless.

The only sound around them was Karen's growing growls, which quickly became angry barks.

Then suddenly without warning, the girl turned around and took off running towards the bushes she came out of and then ran off past a tree hiding her from view.

"Hey wait!" Justin shouted after her as he went to follow her along with Karen, however when they got to the tree that she used to escape his sight he lost track of her.

The trees past this point were larger and could easily hide a child, but she got away too easily regardless. As Justin turned to look at Karen with a look of frustration for being so aggressive with a person they barely met for a minute he noticed something as she turned her head away in shame.

The only foot prints in the area where his.

Karen was too light to leave behind tracks, being just barely taller than a foot. Justin on the other hand, was much bigger and wore hiking boots which dug into the ground heavily. The strange girl looked like she had the exact same boots as well. She on the other hand left no such tracks, and he was completely sure she ran this way.

Justin didn't make eye contact with his Starter as he walked back to the clearing and picked up his frisbee. He raised it up for a second and then took up his throwing stance again as he heard the soft pats of Karen's paws next to him.

"Ready?" He asked with a hint of disappointment towards the way his Starter behaved.

" **Fennekin."** Karen barked softly as she readied herself. She had no idea what possessed her to act that way to someone else. When she met Kyler, she liked him instantly, she could tell he was a good person and a great trainer. She wouldn't have dared to act that way towards him.

Something about the girl on the other hand put her on edge. It was strange enough she looked like Justin, but there was more to it. Even the way the girl smelled was odd…

"NOW!" Justin shouted causing Karen to panic. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice that Justin had tossed the frisbee already and it was well on its way to landing. Just as far as he threw it the first time, but she wasn't ready. There was no possible way she could get there in time before it hit the dirt.

She wasn't even halfway there as she begged her body to carry her faster before it could smack into the dirt. She was so close, a few feet more and she could still make it. That is before the pain in her ribs caught her off guard and caused her body to cramp up, causing her to lose her footing just enough to not be able to make it in time to catch the frisbee.

She slowed to a crawl as it smacked into the ground and rolled away from her, seeming to further taunt her. She instinctively tucked her tail between her legs and folded her ears down as she walked towards it slowly and picked it up in her mouth.

She then commenced her walk of shame back towards Justin as she just stared at the ground, unwilling to look him in the eyes. She walked for what felt like hours before gently placing the red frisbee at his feet and sat down tucking her tail under her and whining softly.

Justin sighed as he reached down and picked up the frisbee and tucked it into his bag.

"We've had enough training for now, we still have a long way to walk before we need to set up camp." He said barely masking the annoyance in his voice as he walked away from her down the path towards the city.

Justin and Karen walked in an awkward silence for the next several minutes together as they headed towards Santalune City.

Justin wasn't really angry at her. He was more surprised at how she seemed so aggressive towards that girl. Coupled with the fact that she looked like him, down to the clothes. It was a bit much for the young trainer.

"I should apologize to her. I'm sure she had a good reason….things would be so much easier if I could understand her." He thought to himself.

Karen wished they could just go to sleep and start a new day. She knew they wouldn't start camp for several more hours at least. She couldn't tell what time of day it was but looking up at the sky made it quite clear, it was midday at most.

Even though there was clearly something wrong with that girl. All she could think about was why she looked like him, if someone saw them together, they would instantly think they were twins. Justin clearly didn't seem to know her however, and she refused to speak even a single word to him before staring at him creepily.

Even before all that something was off. She just couldn't pin down what.

"Hey Karen…" Justin suddenly spoke up causing her to tense up at being spoken to by her trainer. This was it, she would now get her punishment she thought.

"Listen about what happened back there…" He continued as they both slowly walked down a path through the Santalune Forest. Karen just closed her eyes as she tucked her tail between her legs. Her ribs starting to ache again.

"I'm sorry…I'm sure you had a good reason for getting defensive. Even if I can't understand you…. I believe you were just trying to keep us safe…." Justin said apologetically with shame evident in his voice.

At that Karen stopped walking forward and couldn't help but stare at her trainer as he kept walking. She expected to get yelled at, to get locked in her Pokéball and be traded off to some other trainer… or worse.

He, however, was apologizing to her.

" **Fennekin?"** She couldn't help but ask as he continued to walk forward, turning to look at her when she spoke up. **"Fenn Ekin Fen Kin Kin."** She couldn't help but whine softly to him.

Justin just shook his head as he slowly walked back to his Starter. "I can't understand you, sorry. I do want you to know that I'm not mad at you or anything though." He continued as he bent down and reached down to scratch behind her ears.

Karen knew Justin couldn't understand her. Their languages were nothing alike, but she still wanted to apologize to him as well. **"Ekin Kin Fen Fenn."** She continued to whine to her trainer in apology. Only slightly tensing as Justin reached down to pet her before relaxing at his intentions.

"I don't want you to be upset. I can't understand you and sometimes I'll just get the wrong idea. I just hope that as we travel together, we'll get better at talking to each other." He told her as he stopped petting her to look into her eyes.

"That's if you want to keep traveling with me as your trainer that is." Justin said as he extended his hand to her.

He told himself that he would be okay with her not wanting to keep traveling with him. He didn't immediately side with his Starter when she turned on the girl. There was something off about her, Karen clearly knew something he didn't, and he didn't trust his Pokémon. She had yet to fail him in anyway, every loss so far was his fault he thought, and she stayed with him. It was only fair to give her the chance to find someone else if she wanted.

Karen was taken aback from what Justin was telling her. Why was he apologizing to her she thought. True, he couldn't understand her. She did however cross the line, she was ready to attack despite the fact that Justin had everything under control and the girl wasn't a threat. He had every right to punish her or send her away.

When he extended his arm to her, she was confused. She wasn't sure what Justin wanted, but she wanted to tell him she would stay by his side as long as he was willing to keep her. Then she remembered what Justin and Kyler did when they first met. To her it seemed like the perfect way to give him her answer.

Karen looked into Justin's eyes seeing resolution on his young face before looking down at the ground to her paws. Slowly she raised one of her front paws and gently placed it on his hand. When she did that Justin slowly closed his hand on her paw giving her a grateful smile and then shaking her paw up and down gently.

Justin couldn't help himself as he felt tears streak down his face. Suddenly without warning he left go of her paw and picked her up before pulling her into a hug and crying into her warm fur. He was relieved that she wasn't going to leave him despite his failures as a trainer and for not trusting his starter. That and the fact that no one was around to see him crying.

" **Ekin Kin Fennekin."** She softly yipped at him. She wasn't sure why he was so sad, but she just wanted to stay with him and make him happy. She didn't want him to be sad anymore. She knew that eventually, they'd be able to understand each other, for now they just had to try the best they could.

After what felt like an eternity Justin let go of the Fox Pokémon and began to stand back up. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves, red and puffy from crying so much on her fur and looked at his Starter with a smile.

"Well that's enough of that I think." He said shyly as he looked back towards the path. "Thanks Karen, we can go practice more later if you want.

" **Fennekin kin kin!"** She happily barked as she ran up to him, wagging her tail and looking down the path they need to keep traveling to enter the city.

Karen and Justin still had much to achieve in terms of being able to understand each other. Ever so slowly however, they would slowly be able to communicate their thoughts and feelings to one another. It would just take time and patience from them both. Eventually, they hoped, there would be no misunderstanding between them and they would both be able to talk to each other.

For now, they were content with simply continuing their journey through the Santalune Forest and into Santalune City to tackle the City's gym and overcome the next hurdle in their adventure together.


End file.
